An early Victorian walnut, ebonised, stained sycamore and marquetry writing table


almost certainly retailed by Edward Holmes BaldockInlaid with floral and ribboned swags within shaped scrolled cartouche borders, the shaped top above one short frieze drawer, on cabriole legs, 120cm wide x 65cm deep x 76cm high, (47in wide x 25 1/2in deep x 29 1/2in high)
|A virtually identical table to the offered lot is illustrated in E.T. Joy, English Furniture, 1800-51, 1977, London, p. 152.Edward Holmes Baldock (1777-1845)Baldock is documented in London Trade Directories of the period in various capacities but first appears listed at 7 Hanway Street, London in 1805 described as a '..dealer in china and glass'. But by 1826 the various facets of the business included '..buying and selling, exchanging and valuing china, cabinets, screens, bronzes etc'. Baldock's business seems to have largely involved trading in foreign items and during the period 1832-7 he was the purveyor of earthenware and glass to William IV and later purveyor of china to Queen Victoria from 1838 until his death. He is known to have repaired, re-modelled and adapted furniture, often 18th century pieces, but he also designed furniture in an impressive array of styles. It is likely that there is a strong connection between the manufacture of such marquetry tables and the Blake family of inlayers. The fashion for this type of inlay was popularised by the Tottenham Court Road inlayer and buhl manufacturer Robert Blake in the 1820s. By the 1840s the firm were trading as Blake, Geo. & Brothers, inlayers, etc' in Tottenam Court Road and Mount Street, Mayfair and were renamed George Blake & Co. sometime in the 1840's, see C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture, 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, p.18; and M.P. Levy, Furniture History Society Newsletter, no. 158, May 2005.